Forensic Tales

#149 - Lori Slesinski was a recent Auburn University graduate who went missing in 2006. Although a promising suspect emerged early in the investigation, her case went cold. And her disappearance remained a mystery for a decade until new forensic evidence was discovered.   S upport My Work If you love the show, the easiest way to show your support is by leaving us a positive rating with a review. Y...

#148 - In April 2022, police informed the Cashman family that their son, 38-year-old Johnny Cashman Jr, was discovered dead from an apparent medical condition inside his Virginia apartment. Although they were devastated by the news, they believed the police were right about what happened to Johnny. However, they later found out that his apartment was covered in blood and the scene looked nothing l...

#147 - In July 1975, a famous American labor union leader mysteriously disappeared after a scheduled lunch meeting at a restaurant in Michigan. The police found his car at the restaurant, but there was no sign of Jimmy Hoffa. The case was cold until new DNA testing was done in 2001. But even with the new testing, many people still doubt that the mystery behind Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance will ever...

#146 - In November 2006, actress, screenwriter, and director, Adrienne Shelly was found dead inside her New York apartment from an apparent suicide. But according to people who knew Adrienne, she would have never killed herself. And she would never leave her young daughter and husband behind. It wasn't until the police discovered key forensic evidence inside the apartment that they began looking a...

#145 - In 1997, the owner of an Oklahoma City motel was beaten to death with a baseball bat. Shortly into the investigation, the police arrested a teenager, Justin Sneed, for the murder. He quickly confessed to killing the motel owner but told the police someone else hired him to do it. Justin Sneed said that his older friend and manager of the motel, Richard Glossip, was the mastermind behind the...

#144 - In May 1976, a young wife went missing after having an argument at a restaurant with her husband. The next day, her naked and lifeless body was found 20 miles away from the restaurant at a military air station. Initially, the police suspected the husband was involved with his wife's murder. But the deeper the police dug, the more they second-guessed their first theory about what happened to...

#143 - On the morning of December 19, 1991, the body of thirty-six-year-old Kim Ancona was found in the men's restroom of the Phoenix, Arizona, bar where she worked. She had been fatally stabbed and sexually assaulted. Her killer left behind little physical or forensic evidence. Blood at the crime scene matched Kim's blood type, and the police didn't perform semen or DNA tests. Investigators relie...

#142 - In November 1969, Mary Scott arrived home to her San Diego apartment after her shift as a cocktail waitress. The next day, her best friend checked on her after she learned that Mary didn't show up to work. When her friend entered the apartment, she found that her friend had assaulted and strangled to death. With little evidence to go on, the case remained unsolved for the next five decades....

#141 - On February 15, 1997, 13-year-old Billie-Jo Jenkins was murdered in her very own backyard in Hastings, East Sussex, England. The case quickly gained widespread media attention for its brutality and apparent lack of motive. The police received a few tips early on in the investigation, but there seemed to be one particular suspect that stood out the most. The prime suspect was someone close t...

#140 - On October 13, 1997, 10-year-old Joel Kirkpatrick was found murdered inside his mother, Julie Rea's home in Lawrenceville, Illinois. Julie claimed a man wearing a ski mask broke into her house, attacked her, and killed her son. But investigators were skeptical of Julie's story because they didn't believe the crime scene matched her story. Can forensic science determine if Julie Rea is an in...

#139 - On February 15th, 1991, windsurfers discovered the naked body of a young Jane Doe along US Highway 1 in Key West, Florida. She had been assaulted and strangled. For years, authorities tried to identify the woman and her killer. The only clue they had was that she wasn't from Key West because she didn't have tan lines and wore moccasin shoes. Without a name, she became Valentine Jane Doe bec...

#138 - On January 26, 1979, Las Vegas teenager, Kim Bryant, hung out in a Dairy Queen parking lot with a friend. But when it came time for Kim's boyfriend to pick her up and take her home, Kim was nowhere to be found. She had mysteriously disappeared from a busy Las Vegas street without a trace. Initially, the police treated Kim like a runaway. But her family and friends didn't think Kim would do...

#137 - In April 1993, 18-year-old British teenager Stephen Lawrence was murdered in a racially motived stabbing while waiting for a bus near London, England. Within days of the murder, the police received an anonymous letter naming five suspects. But the police failed to make any arrests despite the letter, and Stephen's murder turned cold. Stephen's unsolved murder led to public outcries for chan...

#136 - In May 2003, three people were brutally murdered inside an upscale apartment in the Miracle Mile neighborhood of Los Angeles. The murders became an instant media sensation for their brutality and apparent lack of motive. Without any solid leads, the case turned cold until March 2009, when DNA evidence turned up a possible suspect.   Support My Work   If you love the show, the easiest way to...

#135 - Replay Karina Vetrano went missing on August 2, 2016, after leaving the house to jog in Spring Creek Park, New York. A few hours later, her brutally murdered body was discovered along the running path. The NYPD and the Vetrano family are desperate to find the person responsible for murdering the beautiful, intelligent, 30-year-old Karina. Medical examiners recovered a DNA profile underneath...

#134 - In July 1978, two middle-aged white men were gunned down in their Washington D.C neighborhood. A few weeks after their murders, two men were arrested in connection with the shootings, 17-year-old Santae Tribble and his friend, 20-year-old Cleveland Wright. Although both men denied involvement in the crimes, Washington D.C. police and prosecutors believed they had enough forensic evidence to...

#133 - In 1981, 17-year-old high school student, Mary London, was last seen alive getting off a city bus in downtown Sacramento, California. The following day her lifeless body was discovered off a remote road. Initially, the Sacramento police received countless tips and leads about who might be Mary's killer. But when the leads dried up, so did the investigation. For the next four decades, Mary L...

#132 - In July 2005, 26-year-old George Smith IV and his new wife, Jennifer, boarded the Royal Caribbean International cruise ship Brilliance of the Seas to celebrate their honeymoon. They planned to cruise around the Mediterranean sea for the next two weeks. But only a few days into their honeymoon, tragedy struck. After a long night of drinking, gambling, and cruise ship fun, George mysteriously...

#131 - In 2018, a spree killer shot and killed six people in Scottsdale and Phoenix, Arizona. The victims included a famous forensic psychiatrist, two paralegals, a counselor, and an elderly couple inside their home. Over 96 hours, the residents of Scottsdale were terrified that they would be next. It wasn’t until the police received a tip that turned their investigation upside. But even with a pr...

#130 - In 1999, Jennifer Watkins was found dead underneath a stairwell inside Colorado Spring's Memorial Hospital. She had been sexually assaulted and beaten to death. The location of her body underneath the staircase was interesting to investigators because only a few people had access to that area of the hospital. For years, the police investigated Jennifer's murder but couldn't identify a suspe...

#129 - In January 2001, 911 dispatchers received a tragic phone call that a young mother, Pamela Shelley, had shot and killed herself. Following the autopsy, the forensic pathologist ruled Pamela's death a suicide. But the ruling didn't sit well with Pamela's family or the police.   After years of doubting Pamela's apparent suicide, one persistent detective vowed to continue investigating the case...

#128 - In April 2009, 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel traveled to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for a spring break trip with friends without her parent's permission. During the trip, Brittanee walked to another hotel located a short distance from her hotel on Ocean Boulevard. The hotel's security cameras captured her entering and leaving the hotel alone. Shortly after walking out of the hotel, Britta...

#127 - Business partners and friends Edward Shin and Chris Smith formed a successful business together, 800 Exchange, in 2009. Within months, the company was turning over a massive profit. But Edward and Chris's relationship was tested after Edward and Chris were sued for embezzling money from Edward's previous employer. Just before the lawsuit settled, Chris Smith suddenly disappeared. He cashed...

#126 - In June 1989, 14-year-old high school student, Stephanie Isaacson, walked to El Dorado High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. On her way to school, she took a shortcut through a vacant lot so she wouldn't be late for her first class. After school let out, Stephanie's father became worried when his daughter didn't return home. He called the school and found out she never made it to class that mor...

#125 - After a high school dance in February 1974, 17-year-old Carla Walker was abducted from her boyfriend's car at gunpoint in Fort Worth, Texas. Three days later, the police found her body in a ditch just a few miles away from her home. Although forensic science was still in t's infancy, the first responding investigators were careful to preserve as much of the crime scene surrounding Carla's b...